Method and apparatus for obtaining alternate delivery instructions for a fax document

ABSTRACT

Method and apparatus for obtaining alternate delivery instructions to enable reliable delivery of a fax document. A set of delivery instructions (DI) are maintained for each of a plurality of destinations. When a fax has been successfully sent to a destination, it is determined whether the DI are complete for the destination. If not, a DI fax is prepared requesting an alternate fax number or confirmation that no alternate fax number exists. Then, the DI fax is sent to the destination, and upon receipt of a response to the DI fax from the destination, the DI for the destination are updated.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention concerns delivery of fax documents using avalue-added network, such as a store-and-forward network, and moreparticularly to a method and apparatus for obtaining alternate deliveryinstructions.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

As a mechanism to carry information over long distances,store-and-forward (S&F) networks offer an efficient, low-costalternative to the existing public switched telephone network (PSTN). Ingeneral, S&F networks operate parallel to, and are accessed by, thePSTN.

FIG. 1 shows schematically PSTN 14 and S&F network 22 connected inparallel between a source fax machine 10 and a destination fax machine30. An autodialer 12, positioned between the source fax machine and PSTN14, designates incoming faxes for transmission over either the PSTN 14or S&F network 22. If for example the destination of the incoming fax isnot one serviced by the S&F network, then the autodialer dials thedestination telephone number directly to the local exchange 16; the callis then carried in a normal fashion by the PSTN 14 to the destinationfax machine 30. In contrast, if the number is one serviced by the S&Fnetwork, the autodialer dials the telephone number corresponding to thatof the source network node 24. The local exchange 16 then routes thecall through the PSTN to the source node. (Note that, depending upontheir proximity, the source fax machine 10 and the source network node24 may be served by the same or different local exchanges.) Once it hascompletely received the document, the source node 24 transfers it to thedestination network node 28 over dedicated circuit 26. At this point,the destination node 28 dials the destination telephone number to itslocal exchange which in turn transfers the call via the PSTN to thelocal exchange 20 and then to destination fax machine 30. (Note againthat, depending upon their proximity, the destination fax machine 30 andthe destination network node 28 may be served by the same or differentlocal exchanges.)

In summary, transport of information from the source fax machine to thedestination fax machine using the S&F network requires three distinctsteps:

(1) from the source fax machine to the source network node via the PSTN;

(2) from the source node to the destination node via dedicated circuits;and

(3) from the destination node to the destination fax machine, again viathe PSTN.

Store-and-forward networks offer a number of significant advantages overstandard telephone networks for transport of facsimile. For example, afax document can be carried 15 times more efficiently using packettechnology employed by S&F networks. A common annoyance in telephony isthe inability to complete a call, usually because the destination deviceis busy or does not answer. Although sophisiticated voice mail systemshave been designated to overcome this problem in voice telephony,similar practical and cost effective solutions do not exist for fax. S&Fnetworks offer a viable solution. A properly implemented S&F networkwill employ a sufficiently large number of telephone circuits such thata customer fax machine never encounters a busy signal. At thedestination end, it is a common practice to design into S&F networks theability to automatically redial those call attempts which encounter"busy" or "no-answer" signals. Normally, the calls are redialedperiodically over a fixed interval of time, every ten minutes for a halfhour, for example.

Since multiple messages are typically coursing through an S&F network atany point in time, it is important to have some mechanism to monitor thelocation and status of each. For example, in one known S&F network, asmall data file called an envelope is created to track each fax documentas it moves through the network. The source node creates the envelopeafter it receives an incoming fax document. As the fax document movesthrough the network, the envelope moves between the network devices andreceives continuous updates regarding the status of the fax. Thisenables substantially real-time monitoring of the fax delivery process.

In the known S&F network, upon concluding the delivery attempt process,the destination network node declares the fax document either"delivered" or "not delivered"; it records the status in thecorresponding envelope which is then returned to the source node. If thedelivery was successful, the envelope is forwarded to an historicaldatabase (HD) which provides a basis for constructing customer bills. Ifthe delivery was not successful, the envelope will be forwarded to adelivery assist system (DAS) for further processing. DAS is a databasemanagement system which provides a human operator, the document deliveryanalyst, with the delivery history and options for resubmission to thenetwork of the document in question. One of the possible actions theanalyst may take is to assign the fax to an alternate destinationnumber, one that has been prearranged with either the sender or thereceiver.

It is, of course, possible to ask the customer (source) of a given faxdocument for alternate delivery instructions, either before or after aproblem is encountered with delivering a fax. However, obtainingalternate delivery instructions from a customer for every possibledestination number is very time-consuming for both the customer andnetwork provider; more importantly, it is likely to decrease thecustomer's perceived benefit of utilizing the S&F network. A request (tothe customer) for alternate delivery information can certainly bepostponed until a problem is encountered with a given destinationnumber. This, however, may have the undesirable consequence ofintroducing a substantial delay before the document can be delivered,thus significantly degrading the guarantee of timely delivery offered bythe network provider. Thus, there is a need for some means of obtainingalternate delivery information without alienating the customer orsignificantly delaying his otherwise undeliverable fax.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention, a method of obtainingalternate delivery instructions is provided, in order to furnish morereliable delivery of a fax document. A set of delivery instructions (DI)are maintained for a plurality of destinations. When a fax has beensuccessfully sent to a destination, it is determined if the set ofdelivery instructions for that destination are complete. If not, a DIfax for the destination is prepared, which requests alternate deliveryinstructions such as an alternate fax number or confirmation that noalternate fax number exists. The DI fax is sent to the destination. Uponreceipt of a response to the DI fax from the destination, the new DI isincorporated into the delivery assist system to aid future documentresubmission processes.

One benefit of the invention is that because the destination has betterknowledge of the local fax environment, it can generally provide morereliable delivery instruction information than the source. Secondly, thecollection of such information is distributed in both time and place, asopposed to placing an undue burden on the source by requesting inadvance a set of alternate delivery instructions for all destinations.

In particular embodiments, the request for delivery instructions (DIfax) can be sent at a scheduled time, for example to ensure deliveryduring business hours at the destination, and/or during off-peak hourswhen traffic on the network is lower (and presumably less expensive).The language of the DI fax (e.g., English, French, Japanese, etc.) canbe selected to increase the likelihood of a response. Similarly, the DIfax may designate a particular country to which the response is to besent, in order to increase the likelihood of a response.

In other embodiments, it may not be desirable to send a DI fax tocertain destinations, and therefore the method may include a step ofdetermining whether the source has authorized the sending of a DI fax toa particular destination. Different forms of the DI fax may be selectedfor different types of destinations and/or customers. A preformatted faxdocument to which appropriate data is merged may be available toautomate the process.

Upon failing to receive a response to the DI fax, one or more additionaldelivery attempts of the DI fax may be made. If still no response isreceived, the system may contact the source of the fax for alternatedelivery instructions.

These and other features and benefits of the present invention will bemore particularly described in regard to the following detaileddescription and figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of an S&F network disposed inparallel to a PSTN;

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of an apparatus for obtainingalternate delivery instructions according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart describing the method of the invention; and

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a central processing unit andmemory for use in this invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A standard S&F network node normally contains the following four keycomponents:

1. Fax Transmit/Receive Agent (FTR)--As the name implies, this componentis responsible for transmitting documents to and receiving documentsfrom fax machines. Two principal software processes reside on thiscomponent. The first, a "vfax" process, controls the actual transmissionand reception of a fax document. A second "scheduler" process controlsthe movement of the fax document and other auxiliary messages to theremaining key components.

2. Traffic Administrator (TA)--This component is responsible formonitoring and controlling the movement of the fax document through theS&F network once it leaves the FTR.

3. File Server (FS)--This machine is responsible for receiving the faxdocument from the FTR and storing it until it is notified that thedocument has either been successfully delivered or canceled.

4. Router--This machine manages the flow of information between andamong the other machines which make up the network node. Further, itformats data and manages its transport to other nodes on the network.

In normal operation, upon detecting a ring signal from the telephonenetwork, the source FTR goes off-hook and creates a vfax process whichexchanges information with the calling autodialer. Upon validating thecall, vfax creates two files with unique names: a fax file to hold theincoming fax and a companion file called an envelope. A completeenvelope file contains a variety of information generally including thesource fax machine number, the destination number, the number of pagesin the document and the total reception time; that is, all theinformation required to deliver the fax and bill the customer. Once thefiles are created, vfax instructs the autodialer to allow it to interactdirectly with the source fax machine to initiate the fax receptionprocess. It then begins to receive the fax data and store it in a localbuffer under the created filename. Once reception is complete and thecall terminated, both files are transferred to the scheduler; thisprocess in turn transfers the fax file to the file server and thenforwards the related envelope file to the source TA to begin the filerouting process. Note that all this activity takes place within thesource node.

The delivery process begins with an examination of the envelope todetermine the document destination. The source TA decides on anappropriate route and forwards the envelope to the selected destinationTA. From there, the envelope is relayed to a destination FTR to beginthe delivery process. After retrieving the entire fax document from thesource file server, the destination FTR dials the destination fax numberto commence delivery.

In accordance with the present invention, a delivery instruction (DI)fax process is provided to simplify and automate the process ofgathering delivery instructions for some or all of a customer'sdestination fax numbers. In accordance with this embodiment, the DI faxis a request for an alternate fax number or confirmation that noalternate fax number exists. Preferably, the DI fax further requests aphone number for reaching a person located at the destination via thePSTN.

It has been found that sending a DI fax to every "good" destination faxnumber (see later discussion of good fax numbers) for a particularcustomer proved to be effective in gathering alternate deliveryinstructions 50% of the time, representing 85% of that customer'soverall fax traffic. Where the DI fax was not successful, the customerwas contacted on a case-by-case basis as required to deliver theirdocuments. A major benefit of the automated system according to thepresent invention is that it distributes the work of gathering deliveryinstructions to all of a customer's destination numbers, whichdramatically simplifies the process of gathering such information andavoids placing an undue burden on the customer (the sender) to providesuch information.

In accordance with a particular embodiment described herein, the methodstarts with the network provider signing up a customer anywhere in theworld and attaching an autodialer device to each of the customer's faxmachines. In this embodiment, the autodialer is programmed to route tothe S&F network only numbers known to access fax machines; these numbersare stored in its internal database and are known as "good" numbers. Adatabase of good fax numbers may be initially provided by the customer.Alternatively, the autodialer device may use its number qualification(NQ) capability to increase its store of good numbers. For example, theautodialer will route unknown numbers to the PSTN and monitor the callto determine if it terminates at a fax machine; if yes, the number isadded to the good number database for future reference.

The network also maintains within the DAS a database of all good numberswith a set of delivery instructions for each. When the network hassuccessfully delivered a document to a number which does not have acomplete set of delivery instructions, the automated process ofobtaining such delivery instructions will begin.

In summary, a document destined for a known good fax number enters theS&F network through the autodialer and in this case, is successfullydelivered. Once the document is delivered, the system checks whether thedelivery instructions are complete. If the delivery instruction statusis incomplete for the given destination, a DI fax is prepared andscheduled to be sent to the destination. In this embodiment, a first DIfax is prepared in the English language and sent out by a network serverto the destination. The DI fax arrives at the destination fax machine.The DI fax indicates a return fax number. An operator at the destinationprovides a responsive fax with the requested information and sends it tothe return fax number. Upon receipt of the completed DI at the returnnumber, the alternate delivery information is entered into the deliveryinstruction database. If no response is received within three days, amodified DI fax may be sent to the destination, in this case in thelanguage of the destination. If still no response is received, thedocument may be sent to a document delivery department staffed bypersons who will analyze the potential problem and attempt to obtainalternate means for delivering the fax (e.g., by telephoning a person atthe destination).

The following is a particular embodiment of an apparatus and method fordelivering a fax document in an S&F network (see FIGS. 1-2). In additionto the major components illustrated in FIG. 1, a Central ControlFacility 32 is shown in FIG. 2 which is operated by the S&F networkprovider and which communicates via router 34 on dedicated circuits 26with the source and destination nodes 24, 28 via routers 51 and 53,respectively. The automatic method of obtaining alternate deliveryinstructions according to the present invention may be incorporated intothis general method and apparatus.

1. The customer loads a document into his fax machine 10 and dials thedestination fax number.

2. The autodialer 12 attached to the customer's fax machine screens thedialed number. If it detects a valid destination phone number, it dialsthe network provider number (i.e., the telephone number of the sourcenetwork node 24). The Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) 14transfers the call to an FTR 42 at the source node.

3. The source FTR 42 answers and sends out a sequence of Dual Tone MultiFrequency (DTMF) tones on the PSTN to indicate its presence.

4. The autodialer 12 responds with a string of DTMF tones whichindicate, among other information, an identifier of the source faxmachine 10 (to which it is attached) and the destination fax number.

5. The source FTR 42 validates the received data and acknowledges itsreceipt with another DTMF signal to the autodialer 12.

6. The autodialer then removes itself from the circuit and the faxsession progresses as if the customer's fax machine 10 is connecteddirectly to the destination fax machine 30. In reality, the customer'sfax document is entering the S&F network 22 for delivery.

7. When the source FTR 42 receives the fax, it creates a small data filecalled an envelope to contain information about the fax document. Theenvelope includes the following information:

document number assigned by the source FTR to the fax document

source fax machine identifier

destination fax machine telephone number

customer number.

8. After reception is complete, FTR 42 transfers responsibility for thedocument as follows:

The fax document is transferred to the source File Server (FS) 46;

The envelope is transferred to the source Traffic Administrator (TA) 50.

9. Once the source FTR 42 receives notification that the fax documentand the envelope were transferred successfully, it deletes the faxdocument from its database.

10. To initiate the delivery process, the source TA 50 sends theenvelope to the destination TA 52 The envelope residing on thedestination TA is known as the destination envelope.

11. The destination TA 52 transfers the destination envelope to theleast loaded destination FTR 56 to deliver the fax.

12. Upon receipt of the destination envelope, the destination FTR 56retrieves a copy of the document from the source FS 46. The fax documentis now ready for delivery.

13. In addition, the destination FTR 56 creates a document status update(DSU) containing detailed information about the status of the faxdocument it is holding for delivery. The destination FTR sends theupdates to the destination TA 52 at regular (e.g., two-minute)intervals.

14. The destination TA 52 forwards the DSU to the source TA 50.

15. The source TA 50 uses the information in the DSU to update its copyof the fax envelope.

16. The destination FTR 56 attempts to deliver the document by callingthe destination fax machine through the destination country's PSTN. Theresult of the attempt is either:

Successfully Delivery--The document was delivered to the destination faxmachine 30.

Failed Attempt--The document was not delivered to the destination faxmachine 30 because of one of the following conditions:

Busy Line

No Answer

Broken Connection

Non-Fax (for example, voice detected)

Other (a general term assigned to a number of telephony or faxingerrors).

17. Once the document is successfully delivered, the destination FTR 56updates its copy of the envelope with the final delivery information andreturns it to the destination TA 52. This machine then forwards theenvelope to the source TA 50, which reconciles the information in thetwo envelopes and transfers the information to the historical database(HD) 33. At some later time the information will be retrieved from thesystem to compute a customer bill.

18. Informed that the document has been delivered, the source TA 42sends a request to the FS 46 to delete the delivered document.

19. If the document is not successfully delivered on the first attempt,the destination FTR 56 makes additional delivery attempts at regularintervals over some predetermined time period--usually every fiveminutes for a half hour.

20. If these delivery attempts are unsuccessful, the destination FTR 56declares the document as "Not Delivered," suitably marks thecorresponding envelope, and sends it to the destination TA 52 for returnto the source TA 50.

21. Noting the returned envelope as "Not Delivered," source TA 50forwards it to the Delivery Assist System (DAS) 36 for resolution. DASwill review the delivery attempt history contained in the envelope todetermine a course of action. In this case, it will search its DeliveryInstruction (DI) database 37 for an alternative destination number. Ifone is found, the number is inserted in the envelope which is thenresubmitted to the source TA for standard delivery. In the event that noalternative number is available, the document will be referred to aDelivery Analyst (human operator) who determines a course of action toinsure its successful delivery.

22. The Delivery Analyst may call the destination for more information,correct the telephone number and resubmit the document, rescheduledelivery, or reroute the document to another fax machine. The DeliveryAnalyst enables the network provider to guarantee timely delivery of afax document.

FIG. 3 illustrates one method embodiment of obtaining alternate deliveryinstructions, following successful delivery of a fax to the destination.Initial step 60 indicates that a successful delivery of the fax to thedestination has been made. In step 61, it is determined whether thedelivery instructions (in the DI database) are complete. If yes, thenthe process ends (step 62). If not, then it is determined whether thisdestination number is authorized to receive a DI fax (step 63);generally, the customer is allowed to determine which destinationnumbers may be contacted via the DI fax process. If not authorized, theprocess ends (step 62). If authorized, it is determined whether twodelivery attempts of a DIF to this destination have already been made.If so, then the process ends (step 62); some alternate method may thenbe used to obtain alternate delivery instructions. If less than twodelivery attempts have been made, then a DI fax is prepared (step 65)and scheduled for delivery (step 66). If it is not yet the scheduledtime (step 67), the process waits. When the scheduled time arrives, theDI fax is sent to the destination (step 68). The process waits apredetermined time period for a completed DI fax to be returned by thedestination. After the predetermined time, if no response is received,the process may return to step 64 to initiate another DI fax, perhaps ina different language. If a response is received (step 70), then thealternate delivery instruction information in the response is used toupdate the DI database (step 71) and the process ends (step 72).

All DI faxes may be included in an auto-retry or auto-rescheduleprocedure and then terminated in the event they cannot be delivered viathe automated process. Generally, it would not be desirable to use humanintervention to deliver a DI fax. The results of a "failed" deliveryattempt would then be returned.

The DI database 37, residing on the Delivery Assist System 36, should beupdated as required to reflect the accurate status of each DI fax as itis created and moves through its lifecycle as follows:

Blank: No activity yet.

Scheduled: DI fax has been authored and is waiting for transmission.

Sent: DI fax has been sent into the network for delivery.

Delivered: DI fax was successfully delivered by the network to thedestination number. Status change to take place after confirmation ofdelivery from network.

Received: DI fax was received back from the destination and eitherPartial or Complete DI was entered into the DI database.

Failed: DI fax was sent into the network but could not be delivered tothe destination after going through a standard re-submission process andthen was automatically terminated by the network.

All responses to DI faxes may be returned to special inbound ports onthe network, and then routed to specific fax machines for printing. Thenetwork is thus used to aggregate the return responses and deliver theresponses to a data entry group in paper or electronic form. Theincoming delivery instructions are then entered into the DI database.

The above described embodiment may be implemented with a variety ofhardware configurations. Note that the functionality of the principalnetwork components including the TA, FTR, HD, DAS and the FS can beachieved in software applications executing on standard PC platforms.The choice, whether to use a few or many machines, is dependent upon theamount of traffic carried as well as the desired system reliability andredundancy.

The invention may be implemented in a general purpose computer 41 asshown in FIG. 4. The general purpose computer may include a computerprocessing unit (CPU) 42, memory 43, a processing bus 44 by which theCPU can access the memory, and interface 45 to the network.

In alternative embodiments, the invention may be a computer apparatuswhich performs the functions of any of the previous embodiments.Alternatively, the invention may be a memory, such as a floppy disk,compact disk, or hard drive, that contains the computer program or datastructure, for providing to a general purpose computer instructions anddata for carrying out the functions of the previous embodiment.

These and other modifications and improvements of the present inventionwill be understood by a person skilled in the art and are intended to beincluded within the scope of the claimed invention.

We claim:
 1. A method of obtaining alternate delivery instructions for aplurality of destination fax machines comprising:maintaining a set ofdelivery instructions (DI) for each of a plurality of destinations; fora destination to which a fax has been successfully sent, determining ifthe DI are complete for the destination; if not, preparing a DI fax forthe destination requesting alternate delivery instructions; sending theDI fax to the destination; and upon receipt of a response to the DI faxfrom the destination, updating the DI for the destination.
 2. The methodof claim 1 further comprising, prior to preparing the DI fax,determining whether a source of the successfully sent fax has authorizedsending the DI fax.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step ofpreparing the DI fax includes selecting a language for the DI fax. 4.The method of claim 1 further comprising, if no response is received tothe DI fax, preparing and sending a modified DI fax in a languagedifferent than a language of the initial DI fax.
 5. The method of claim1 further comprising, after a predetermined interval during which noresponse is received, resending the DI fax.
 6. The method of claim 1,wherein a database is provided for storing each DI.
 7. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the DI fax requests an alternative fax number orconfirmation that no alternate fax number exists.
 8. The method of claim7, wherein the DI fax further requests a telephone number for contactinga person located at the destination.
 9. The method of claim 1, whereinthe response is a fax document and the updating step includes enteringinformation from the fax document into a database for storing each DI.10. The method of claim 1, wherein the DI fax requests that the responsebe sent to a predetermined fax number.
 11. The method of claim 10,wherein the predetermined fax number is a destination on a predeterminednetwork node.
 12. The method of claim 1 further comprising, upon a laterunsuccessful attempt to send a fax to the destination, utilizing the DIto attempt alternate delivery of the fax to the destination.
 13. Themethod of claim 12, wherein the step of attempting alternate delivery ismade only after a predetermined number of unsuccessful attempts todeliver to the original destination fax number.
 14. The method of claim1, wherein the step of preparing the DI fax includes entering dataregarding the destination in a pre-formatted fax document.
 15. Themethod of claim 1, wherein if no response to the DI fax is received in apredetermined time period, contacting a source of the successfully sentfax for alternative delivery instructions.
 16. The method of claim 1,wherein the step of sending occurs at a scheduled time.
 17. The methodof claim 1, wherein upon failure to receive a response to the DI faxwithin a predetermined time period, the method includes the further stepof updating the DI to indicate a failure of response.
 18. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the DI fax includes a request for a response at a faxnumber in a country of the destination.
 19. The method of claim 1,wherein the DI fax includes a request for a response at a fax number ina country of a source of the successfully sent fax.
 20. An apparatus forobtaining alternate delivery instructions comprising:means formaintaining a set of delivery instructions (DI) for each of a pluralityof destinations; for a destination to which a fax has been successfullysent, means for determining if the DI are complete for the destination;if not, means for preparing a DI fax for the destination requestingalternate delivery instructions; means for sending the DI fax to thedestination; and upon receipt of a response to the DI fax from thedestination, means for updating the DI for the destination.